Peach-stoning machine.



' G. W. ALLEN.

PEAGH STONING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 8, 1913.

a sums-SHEET 1.

Attorneys Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

G. W. ALLEN.

PEACH STONING MAGHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3, 1913.

1,09 1 ,723. Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Inventsr Witnesses -W by I r m I Attorneys Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

Inventor Witnesses Attorheys IA PLANOGRAPH c UNIF STTES PATENT OFFICE.

PEACH-STONING MACHINE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. ALLEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Selma, in the county of Fresno and State of California, haveinvented a new and useful Peach-Stoning Machine, of which the followingis a specification.

The device forming the subject matter of this application is adapted tobe employed for separating the pits of cling-stone peaches from themeats thereof.

One object of the present invention is to provide novel mechanism forseparating the pit from the meat of the peach.

Another object of the invention is to pro vide novel mechanism fordisposing of the its. p Another object of the invention is to providenovel means for receiving and deflecting the meats after the pits havebeen removed therefrom.

It is within the scope of the invention to provide novel mechanismwhereby the several movably coacting parts of the structure may beoperatively connected and actuated.

The invention aims to improve generally and to enhance the utility of,devices of that 1 type to which the present invention appertains.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafterdescribed and claimed, it being understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of the invention herein disclosed can be made within thescope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of the complete machine;Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the com plete machine; Fig.8 is a transverse section on the line 33 of Fig. 1; Fig. 1 is atransverse section on the line 41 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a top plan of aportion of the supporting frame; Fig. 6 is a plan of the movableplatform; Fig. 7 is a fragmental vertical section taken through one ofthe standards of the supporting frame; Fig. 8 is a perspective of one ofthe movable slides; Fig. 9 is a perspective of the knife supportinglever; and Fig. 10 is a perspective of the knife which cooperates withthe lever or latch shown in Fig. 9.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 8, 1913.

Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

Serial No. 777,927.

In carrying out the invention there is is adapted to be engaged. Thestandards 1 v are connected adjacent their upper ends by a transversecap 6. Secured to the cap 6 and upstanding therefrom is an arched brace7, provided upon one side with an outstanding lug 8 as shown best inFig. 5. In the side face of the lug 8 there is a polygonal opening 9,closed by a transverse bar 10 constituting a guide, there being securingelements 11 passing through the bar 10 and through the crown of thebrace 7 At one end of the guide bar 10 there is a polygonal opening 12and at the other end of the guide bar there is a circular opening 14.Fixed to the brace 7 and ordinarily held in place by the securingelements 11 is an upstanding support 15.

Fulcrumed intermediate its ends on the support 15 is a walking beam 16,adapted at one end to be engaged by a roller 17 carried at the upper endof a vertically movable rod 18 of polygonal cross section, the rod 18being slidably received in the opening 12 of the bar or guide 10 shownin Fig. 5, the rod 18 being mounted to reciprocate in another polygonalopening formed in the cap 6, as shown in Fig. 4. The lower end of thebar 18 extends some distance below the cap 6 as shown in Fig. 1. Theother end of the walking beam 16 is adapted to be engaged by a roller 19carriedat the upper end of a vertically movable rod 20 passing throughthe opening 14 in the guide bar 10 as shown in Fig. 5, the rod 20 beingmounted to slide in the cap 6, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 4. The rod20 is provided with an adjustable abutment 21 receiving the upper end ofa compression spring 22 which surrounds the rod, the lower end of thecompression spring 22 hearing against the cap 6 as shown in Fig. 1. Thelower end of the rod 20 is equipped with spaced fingers 23 which extendtoward the center of the machine and are disposed approximately at rightangles to the rod 20. Mounted to reciprocate vertically in the opening 9shown in Fig. 5 and to reciprocate in the cap 6 as shown in Fig. 4 is aplunger 24. The fingers 23 lie upon opposite sides of the plunger 24 asshown in Fig. 2. At its lower end, the plunger 24 terminates in a fork25. The plunger 24 is provided, as shown in Fig. 1 with an adjustableabutment 26, adapted to engage the cap 6 to limit the downward movementof the plunger. A coiled compression spring 27 surrounds the rod orplunger 24 and is engaged at its lower end by the abutment 26. The upperend of the spring 27 is spaced from the lug 8 on the brace 7 but isadapted to engage the lug when the plunger 24 is moved upwardly to asuflicient extent. The lower face of the cap 6 is provided with anextension 28 shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and through the extension 28 areinserted curved, vertically mounted resilient fingers 29, the fingersbeing alined with the plunger 24. The fingers 29 as will be understoodbest from Figs. 2 and 1, lie between the fingers 23 which constitute apart of the rod 20, the fingers 29 being adapted to be compressed withthe fingers 23, when the rod 20 is moved downwardly by the walkingbeam'16. The resilient, vertically disposed fingers 29 are held in placeby set screws 28 threaded into the extension 28 of the cap 6. V

In one side face of the cap 6, as shown in Fig. 4, there are notches 30in which are disposed verticallypositioned knife bars .31,

held in place by pivot elements 32 which pass through the bars andengage the cap 6 within the contour of the notches 30. Re-

A tractile springs 33 are secured to the upper ends of the knife bars31, the outer ends of the springs 33 being secured to the brace- Thefunction of the 7 as shown in Fig. 1. springs 33 is to throw the lowerends of the knife bars toward the plunger 24. At

A their lower ends,the knife bars 31 are provided with horizontallydisposed blades 34 which project toward the vertical center of themachine. The blades 34 at their inner ends are equipped with upstandinglugs 35 ends of the springs 36 extending downwardly at one side of themachine as shown in Fig. 1. springs 36 are secured the ends of a pair offlexible, resilient elements, preferably taking the form of wires 37. Asindicated at 38 in Fig. 1, the wires 37 pass slidably through one of thestandards 1 and as indicated at 39 pass slidably through the knife bars31, the wires as shown at 40, passing through the lugs 35 of the knifebars. As indicated at 41 and as shown to best 'advan tage in Fig. 2, thewires 37 pass slidably through the lower ends of the vertically dis- Tothe lower ends of the leaf posed spring fingers 29. Referring to Figs. 1and 7, the wires 37 pass as shown at 42 through the other standard 1 andthrough tubular screws 43 which are threaded into the said standard. Theouter ends of the wires 37 are held engaged with the screws 43 by aretaining device 44 of any desired sort.

The invention further includes. a vertically movable platform shown inoutline in Fig. 6. At its ends, the platform 45 is provided withextensions 46 which are slidably received in the standards 1, as will beunderstood best from Figs. 1 and 3. A means is provided for raisingtheplatform 45, this means ordinarily comprising a pair of flexibleelements 47, secured at one end to the extensions 46, the flexibleelements being trained about pulleys 48 carried by the ends of the cap6. The extremities of the flexible elements 47 are downwardly prolongedand may be connected with a pedal (not shown) or with any other suitablemeans for actuating the flexible elements to effect a raising of theplatform. The platform is depressed by a retractile spring 49, referencebeing had to Figs. 1'

and 2. The upper end of the spring 49 is secured to a bail 50 attachedto the bottom of the platform 45, the lower end of the spring 49 beingsecured toan offset 51 constituting a part of the curved brace 2. Theplatform 45 is provided with a central opening 52, alined with theplunger 24, the opening 52 being intersected by a slot 53, the slot 53and the standards 1 being in a common vertical plane. In the upper faceof the platform 45 there is atransverse chan nel 54,. defining raisedends 55 upon the platform. A guide plate 56 shown in Figs. 3 and 2 issupported by the ends 55 of the platform.

Mounted to reciprocate in the channel 54 v toward and away from thevertical center of the machine is a pair of slides 57, one of which isshown in Fig. 8, each slide 57 being provided at its outer end with aneye 58. Secured to one edge of the platform 45 (see Fig. 2) is a bracket59upon which is fulcrumed a lever 60, equipped with an eye or loop 61which is loosely received in the eye 58 of one slide 57. The lever 60includes a laterally extended arm 62 and a clownwardly extended arm 63.A retractile spring 64 is attached to the lower end of the arm 63 and issecured to the bail 50. The function of the spring 64 is to actuate thelever 60 and one slide 57, so that the inner edge of the slide standspart way across the opening 52 in the platform. A spring means isprovided, as hereinafter described, for moving the inner edge of theother slide 57 inwardly, so that the slides will cotiperate to close theopening 52. To the lower end of the arm 63 of the lever 60 is securedone end of a flexible element 65, passed through an eye formed in thelower end of an arm 66, as shown in Fig. 1, attached to the bottom ofthe platform 45. The flexible element 65 is trained over a pulley 67,carried by a bracket 68 attached to one edge of the platform 45, theextremity of the flexible element 55 being connected as shown at 69 withthe eye 58 of the other slide 57. This last mentioned slide 57 is movedinwardly by means of an arched spring 70 shown in Fig. 3, one end of thespring 70 being secured to the above mentioned slide 57, and the otherend of the spring 70 being connected to some accessible portion of themachine, such as the bracket 68. An arm 71 is attached at its inner endas shown in Fig. at to the cap 6. A resilient finger 72 is secured tothe end of the arm 71 as shown in Fig. 2. The finger 72 terminates atits lower end in a latch head 73 Which is adapted to cooperate with thearm 62 of the lever 60. A retractile spring 74: connects the finger 72with the cap 6 or with some other appropriate portion of the frame ofthe machine.

The invention further includes a pair of dumping planes 7-5 pivoted asindicated at 76 to the platform 45. Pivotally supported by one of thestandards 1 is a pair of hooks 7 7 which are adapted to cooperate withthe dumping planes to tilt the same upon their pivotal mounting 76.

Pivoted as indicated at 78 to the platform 45 is a supporting knife 7 9adapted to move downwardly through the slot 53 in the platform 45 andthrough a similarly formed slot in the guide plate 56, Fig. 6 serving toillustrate the construction whereby a downward movement of the knife ispossible. The free end of the knife 7 9 is adapted to be upheld by oneend of an angular latch 80 as shown in Fig. 9 in detail, the latch beingpivoted as indicated at 81 upon the platform 45. Springs 82, as shown inFig. 1, connect the latch 80 with the platform 45 and serve to positionthe latch in such a manner that the same will uphold the free end of theknife 7 9. The upper end of the latch 80 is beveled as indicated at 83to engage with a cam strip 8 1, shown in Fig. 1 as secured to one of thestandards 1. The function of the cam strip Set is to tilt the latch 80when the platform 45 moves upwardly to a sufficient extent, therebypermitting the free end of the knife 79 to drop. downwardly, the knife79 at its free end is disposed in supporting relation upon the latch 80through the medium of a stop arm 85 projecting from the brace 2 of theframe of the machine.

The operation of the structure is as follows: Presupposing that theplatform 45 is in lowered position as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the peachis placed upon the edge of When the platform 45 moves.

the knife 79, the knife being held in horizontal position by engagementwith the latch 80. The flexible elements 47 are then drawn upon, and theplatform 45 is raised. hen the platform 45 moves upwardly, the peach isengaged by the fork 25 which is formed at the lower end of the plunger24, the fork straddling the upper end of the pit of the peach. By thisoperation, the plunger 24 is forced upwardly and the spring 27 is putunder compression. The peach, by the upward movement of the platform 45is brought into engagement with the blades 34- of the knife bars 31. Theblades 34 cut circumferentially through the meat of the peach in avertical direction, the springs 33 yielding to permit necessary movementof the knife bars 31, the blades of the knife bars 31, approaching eachother beneath the pit of the peach. The wires 37, constrained by thesprings 36, sweep around the pit of the peach and serve to sever the pitfrom the meat. The wires 37 are forced to follow the contour of the pitof the peach, by the action of the spring fingers 29 through which thewires 37 pass. By the time that the platform 45 has reached the limit ofits upward movement, the peach has been severed and the pit thereof isresting in the grip of the wires 37. When the platform 45 has movedupwardly to a suflicient extent, the same will strike the lower end ofthe rod 18 and effect a tilting of the walking beam 16, the samedepressing the rod 20, the fingers 23 of which pass along the curvedfingers 29 and thus hold the wires 37 to the pit of the peach. As theplatform 45 moves upwardly, the beveled end 83 of the latch 80 willengage the cam strip at and effect a tilting of the latch 80, therebywithdrawing the latch from engagement with the knife 79. Thereup on, theknife at its free end will drop. When the platform 45 moves upwardly,the arm 62 of the lever 60 will be engaged by the latch head 7 3 of thespring finger 72, and the dumping planes 7 5 will be engaged by thepivotally mounted hooks- 77. When the platform starts to movedownwardly, the spring 22 will restore the rod 20, the walking beam 16and the rod 18 to the positions shown in Fig. 1.

The fingers 23 which constitute a part of the rod 20 will therefore moveupwardly, relieving the pressure upon the spring fingers 29. At the sametime, the pressure of the pit against the plunger 241 will be relieved,and the spring 27 will thrust the plunger downwardly, ejecting the pitthrough the opening 52 in the platform 45, the slides 57 being retractedto permitthe passage of the pit, in the manner now to be set forth.Recalling that upon the upward movement of the platform 4.5, the arm 62of the lever 60 is engaged with the latch head 73 of the spring finger72, it will be observed that when the platform 45 moves downwardly, thelever 60 will be tilted by the latch head 78 and then the arm 62 willsnap off the latch head as the platform moves clownwardly. When thelever 60 is tilted, the same will actuate one slide 57 directly toretract the same the other slide 57 being actuated by the arm 63 of thelever and by the flexible element 65 which passes over the pulley 67.The springs 64 and serve to move the slides toward each other, so soonas the arm 62 of the lever is disengaged from the latch head 78. At thispoint it may be stated that when the slides 57 are advanced toward eachother, as hereinbefore stated, these slides serve as a support for thepeach, to prevent the same from be ing burstcd during the pit removingoperation.

When the meat of the peach is stripped from the pit by the operationabove described, the halves of the peach will drop upon the dump planes75. Recalling that the dump planes, by the upward movement of theplatform 45 have engaged with the pivotally mounted hooks 77, it will beobvious that when the platform moves downwardly, the dump planes will beelevated so as to discharge the halves of the peach. When the platform45 has descended to a suflicient degree under the action of the spring49, the extremities of the dump planes slide off the hooks 77, whereuponthe planes resume the positions shown in Fig. 1. When the platform 45moves clownwardly, the stop arm 85 will engage the knife 79 adjacent itsfree end, and elevate the free end of the knife, so that the same snapsabove and engages the latch 80.

By the operation above described, the parts will be restored to thepositions shown in Fig. 1.

Obviously, suitable receptacles may be provided for receiving the pitsand for receiving the halves of the peach-meat when the latter areprojected off the dump planes 75.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. In a fruitpitting machine, a frame; pitting mechanism movably mounted in theframe; a fruit supporting platform mounted in the frame to move parallelto the direction of movement of the pitting mechanism; and yieldablemeans for advancing the pitting mechanism; the platform coacting withthe said pitting mechanism to retract the pitting mechanism and torender the said yieldable means eflicient to advance the pittingmechanism.

2. In a fruit pitting machine, a frame; pitting mechanism carried by theframe; a platform carried by the frame; a fruit supporting elementreleasably held in fruit engaging position on the platform for droppingmovement independently of the plat form; and means for producingrelative movement between the platform and the pitting mechanism.

3. In a fruit pitting machine, a frame; pitting mechanism carried by theframe; a platform movable on the frame; means for moving the platformtoward and away from the pitting mechanism; a releasable fruit supportcarried by the platform; latch mechanism carried by the platform andadapted to engage the fruit support, and a relatively fixed member onthe frame adapted to engage the latch mechanism.

4. In a fruit pitting machine, a frame; pitting mechanism carried by theframe; a platform mounted on the frame for movement toward and away fromthe pitting mechanism, the platform being provided with an opening; afruit supporting gate mounted on the platform and movable toward andaway from the opening; and means for operating the gate automaticallywhen the platform is moved. a V

5. In a fruit pitting machine, a frame; pitting mechanism carriedthereby; a platform mounted to move upon the frame toward and away fromthe pitting mechanism;

a fruit support movably mounted upon the platform; latch mechanism forholding the support in fruit receiving position; relatively fixed meanscooperating with the latch mechanism when the platform is moved; a pairof gates mounted upon the platform and movable toward and away from thefruit supporting element; means for moving the gates toward the fruitsupporting element; means for moving the gates away from the fruitsupporting element; a relatively fixed member cooperating with the lastspecified means, when the platform is moved.

6. In a fruit pitting machine, a frame; pitting mechanism carriedthereby; a fruit supporting platform movable toward and away from thepitting mechanism; a dumping member movably mounted upon the platform;and relatively fixed means independent of the pitting mechanism andadapted to engage with said member when the platform is moved.

7. In a fruit pittingmachine, a frame; pitting mechanism carriedthereby; a fruit supporting platform mounted upon the frame for movementtoward and away from the pitting mechanism; a dumping member movablymounted upon the platform; and

movable means mounted upon the frame in.

the path of the dumping member, and independent of the pittingmechanism, for effecting a tilting of the dumping member when theplatform ismoved in one direction.

8. In a fruit pitting machine, severing mechanism comprising opposedflexible elements; fingers connected therewith; and

means for eflecting a compression of the fingers.

9. In a fruit pitting machine, severing mechanism comprising a pair oftrans versely flexible members; fingers connected with the said membersand extended at an angle thereto; and finger compressing mech anismadapted to move longitudinally upon the fingers.

10. In a fruit pitting machine, severing mechanism comprising a pair offlexible members; oppositely curved fingers with which the severingmembers are connected; and a compression element adapted to traverse thecurved portions of the fingers.

11. In a fruit pitting machine, severing mechanism comprising opposedknives; flexible members cooperating with the knives; and means forcontrolling the tension of said members between the knives.

12. In a fruit pitting machine, severing mechanism comprising opposedknives; flexible elements cooperating with the knives; fingerscooperating with the flexible elements between the knives; andcompression means adapted to traverse the fingers.

13. In a fruit pitting machine, a frame; opposed flexible severingmembers extended transversely of the frame; mechanism for regulating thetension of the severing members; a fruit supporting platform mounted tomove upon the frame, a portion of said mechanism lying in the path ofthe platform.

14. In a fruit pitting machine, a frame; a walking beam supportedthereby; a plunger slidably mounted in the frame and cooperating withone end of the walking beam; a fruit supporting platform movable uponthe frame and adapted to engage the plunger; a

second plunger movable in the frame and actuable by the walking beam; apair of transversely flexible severing members; and means for adjustingthe tension of the severing members, said means being operable by thelast specified plunger.

15, In a fruit pitting machine, a frame; a fruit supporting platformmounted to move upon the frame; a walking beam fulcrumed on the frame; aplunger cooperating with the walking beam and lying in the path of theplatform; a second plunger operable by the walking beam and providedwith the spaced parts; fingers carried by the frame and adapted to betraversed by said parts; and flexible severing members connected withthe fingers.

16. In a fruit pitting machine, a pit expelling plunger; a pair ofknives mounted to swing in a common plane with the plunger; and a pairof transversely flexible severing members mounted to slide directly uponthe knives and located upon opposite sides of the plunger.

17. In a fruit pitting machine, a frame;

pitting mechanism carried by the frame; a platform carried by the frame;a fruit supporting element detachably held in fruit engaging position onthe platform; means for producing relative movement between the platformand the pitting mechanism; a gate operating on the platform below thefruit supporting element; and means for operating the gate.

18. In a fruit pitting machine, a frame; pitting mechanism carried bythe frame; a platform carried by the frame; means for producing relativemovement between the pitting mechanism and the platform; a movable fruitsupport carried by the platform; a latch carried by the platform andadapted to engage the support; a relatively fixed member on the frameand adapted to engage the latch, to disengage the latch from the fruitsupportupon relative movement between the platform and the pittingmechanism; and a relatively fixed member on the frame adapted to engagethe fruit support to move the same into cooperating relation withrespect to the latch, upon relative movement between the pittingmechanism and the platform.

19. In a fruit pitting machine, a frame; pitting mechanism carried bythe frame; a platform carried by the frame; means for producing relativemovement between the pitting mechanism and the platform; a pair ofopposed gates movable upon the platform, there being an opening in theplatform with which the gates cooperate; and means for moving the gatestoward and away from the opening.

20. In a fruit pitting machine, a frame; pitting mechanism carried bythe frame; a platform carried by the frame; means for producing relativemovement between the pitting mechanism and the platform; a gate mountedupon the platform there being an opening in the platform with which thegate cooperates; a movable member supported upon the platform andoperatively connected with the gate; and relatively fixed meanscooperating with the movable member to actuate the gate, upon relativemovement between the pitting mechanism and the platform.

21. In a fruit pitting machine, a frame; pitting mechanism carried bythe frame; a platform carried by the frame and provided with an opening;means for producing relative movement between the platform and thepitting mechanism; a gate mounted on the platform and controlling theopening; a movable member mounted upon the platform; a flexible elementconnected with the movable member and extended beneath the platform, theflexible element being connected with a gate; a relatively fixed elementupon the platform, around which the flexible element is looped; andfixed means adapted to engage with the movable member, upon relativemovement between the pitting mechanism and the platform.

22. In a fruit pitting machine, a frame; pitting mechanism carried bythe frame; a platform carried by the frame and provided with an opening;means for producing relative movement between the pitting mechanism andthe platform; a pair of gates mounted upon the platform and adapted tocooperate with the opening; resilient means for moving the gates towardeach other to cause the gates to cooperate withthe opening; meanscarried by the platform for moving the gates away from the opening; anda member with which-the last specified means is adapted to engage uponrelative movement between the pitting mechanism and the platform.

23. In a fruit pitting machine, a frame;

pitting mechanism carried by the frame; a platform carried by the frameand provided with a pit receiving opening; means for producing relativemovement between the platform and the pitting mechanism; a movableclosure for the opening; a dumping member mounted upon the platform andadapted to receive the meat of the fruit; and mechanism for operatingthe closure and the pitting mechanism, upon relative movement betweenthe pitting mechanism and the platform, 7 p

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presencevof two witnesses.

Witnesses:

J. T. FOEKNER, CHAS. L. KING.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

